


Summer, Winter, Spring, Autumn – Maybe I Could Be With You?

by Fox_155



Series: Four Seasons AU [4]
Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Childhood Friends, Eventual Smut, Friends to Lovers, Growing Up, M/M, Mentioned NCT Ensemble, Pack Dynamics, Werewolves
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-24
Updated: 2021-03-12
Packaged: 2021-03-15 10:55:26
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 13,349
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29682906
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fox_155/pseuds/Fox_155
Summary: “I bet I can go higher, though!” Yukhei announced.“You can’t.” Jungwoo returned and crossed his arms. He looked up. He didn’t want to be second to Yukhei, but he didn’t dare go any higher.“Yes, I do.”“No. I’m older and I say so.”“You’re just over a moon older, it doesn’t even count!”Jungwoo and Yukhei grow up together as friends until there’s more and the unbearable awkwardness almost ruins it.
Relationships: Kim Jungwoo/Wong Yuk Hei | Lucas
Series: Four Seasons AU [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1763842
Comments: 61
Kudos: 157





	1. Chapter 1 – The Fifth Summer

**Author's Note:**

> I don't own any of the people and this story isn't by any means an accurate representation of the people by whom it is inspired by.
> 
> This is set in a wolf AU with A/B/O dynamics. So, there's mpreg, if you don't like that, please don't read it.
> 
> This is part of a series, but I believe it can be read alone.
> 
> Chapter titles indicate Jungwoo’s age in Korean age ( **I changed his birthday for plot in another part of this AU, so he’s born in May-June-ish, which I just classify as summer here** (same goes for Yukhei, he’s about 1.5 months older than Jungwoo here)), when he refers to his age, it’s in Western measuring. I’m afraid this is very confusing but it just made sense and I couldn’t think of any other way to properly measure the time… Also I fucked the timeline up bc there used to be a 3-year difference between the 00s+Mark and LuWoo, but then it was suddenly a 4-year difference for no reason, but we’re going to ignore than. v.v
> 
> Wow, LuWoo kinda died as a ship after 2018 and had a beautiful renaissance in NCT World 2.0 with the two of them as a hype duo, loved to see it.

Jungwoo had not asked for a brother.

His parents had gotten one without asking him. Had they asked, he had said no.

Though he was just as loud and useless as the other tiny puppies that had been born recently, his brother was the one that stole all his dads’ attention all the time. It was totally unfair!

Now he was screaming again. Jungwoo glared over to where his useless little brother was lying around. Uselessly. He couldn’t even walk yet even though the others could and Jungwoo also could but no one cared about that. It sucked.

“Can’t you hold still?”

Jungwoo yelped when his hair was pulled.

“Ow! That hurt! You’re so bad at this!” 

“You’re not holding still!”

“You’re bad!”

“You’re stupid!”

“Am not!”

Jungwoo jumped up, only to get his hair ripped on again.

Yukhei glared back.

A cry interrupted their fight and they both groaned, forgetting about the hair.

“Why did they all get puppies? They’re too loud!” Yukhei whined and Jungwoo nodded.

They settled next to each other.

“It’s always Jaemin, Jaemin, Jaemin.”

Yukhei hummed, but Yukhei’s dads totally still loved him tons while Jungwoo’s were all over the new puppy, had been since last summer when he had been born as the last of the four. At least Renjun and Jeno hadn’t taken anyone’s places because their parents hadn’t had any older puppies they were now ignoring.

“It’s so unfair.”

Yukhei hummed and started to play with the stones in front of them.

“If only we could at least get to leave the clearing alone,” Jungwoo carried on. Outside the clearing was where the forest started. The forest was so much more exciting than the clearing. He knew every tent, all of the places where you could play. It was boring. He wanted to hide between the bushes and build houses between the trees.

He only could if someone went with them.

Okay, sure, his dads did go with him, but not all the time nor whenever he wanted. They had used to and now there was Jaemin stealing all their time.

“We should just go anyway,” Jungwoo whispered and Yukhei looked up with big eyes.

“But it’s forbidden!”

“I don’t care. We could climb the tree just next to the viola clearing.”

“What if our dads find out?”

Jungwoo shrugged.

“I climb fast. They can’t find us that fast.”

Yukhei seemed to consider it.

“Okay.”

He got up and Jungwoo jumped to follow.

No one stopped them.

They just left and Jungwoo kept glancing around to check no one had noticed them. He was super excited about this. His heart was going all _badump badump_ in his chest until they finally stepped between the trees where they’d be hidden from their parents’ eyes.

“Are you sure we should do this?” Yukhei asked not even two steps later.

Jungwoo huffed.

“Yes. Or do you wanna be boring?”

“No,” Yukhei huffed back.

“Duh. Okay, now here, right?”

Jungwoo had never gone to the viola clearing on his own, seeing how it wasn’t allowed. But he knew the way. Totally. It wasn’t hard, they went there all the time because it was a really nice clearing with a river closeby so you could sun-bathe in the summer after swimming.

“I think you have to go left, though.”

“No, you don’t. It’s always been right here, past the strawberry field,” Jungwoo hissed back.

“I’ll go left. It’s left.”

“Fine. Bye.”

Jungwoo turned right and Yukhei turned left.

He spotted the strawberries and smiled to himself. He had been right, after all. He was definitely old enough to come here alone. His dads were so boring forbidding it. He’d just do it anyway since they only cared about Jaemin now.

He heard feet hit the ground behind him and stopped to turn. Yukhei came running down the path.

“Okay, okay, okay, you were right.” He gasped and Jungwoo snorted.

“Duh.”

They reached the clearing and the tree that Jungwoo loved climbing the most because it had so many sturdy branches.

Finally!

Something fun to do!

That no annoying brother could do!

Jungwoo loved climbing and he pushed Yukhei to get to the tree’s trunk first, getting the advantage because he could grab and step onto the lowest branches first.

Yukhei whined how it was no fair, but Jungwoo was already ascending and he followed after getting over himself.

“I bet I can go higher, though!” Yukhei announced. Jungwoo had already settled on the branch he always sat on. Yukhei usually used the one on the other side that was at the same height. It was super high and Jungwoo’s dads had never allowed him to climb any higher because at this height they could still easily reach him if something was wrong.

“You can’t.” Jungwoo returned and crossed his arms. He looked up. He didn’t want to be second to Yukhei, but he didn’t dare go any higher. The tree was incredibly tall, you could go so high up…

“Yes, I do.”

“No. I’m older and I say so.”

“You’re just over a moon older, it doesn’t even count!”

“Yes because you were early anyway!” Jungwoo didn’t know what that meant, but everyone always said it so he echoed their words. Being older meant you knew more and you got to decide. That was how it worked.

“Watch me!”

Yukhei grabbed the next branch and pulled himself up. Jungwoo nibbled on his lower lip, watching how the tree supported his friend’s weight. He didn’t do badly. He managed to grab another and another and then he stopped.

“Uh.”

He turned his head and Jungwoo stared up at him blankly.

“What do I do now?”

“What? I don’t know!”

“Appa always tells me what to do next!”

“Go back down!”

“No. I don’t remember how I got up.”

“What? Why not?”

Yukhei started whimpering and Jungwoo panicked. No one even knew they were here and now Yukhei was stuck?

“Jungwoo, you have to help me!”

Jungwoo guessed he did.

“Always the same with you!”

“I’m sorry!”

Jungwoo held onto the trunk and got to his feet, balancing on the thick branch had been sitting on. When he stretched up, he could touch Yukhei’s foot.

And now?

Jungwoo didn’t know how to help him. He knew his dads would be able to, too, but _he_ didn’t know how this worked.

“Just climb back down and I’ll hold you.”

“No, I’m scared!” Yukhei was crying now and Jungwoo panicked even more. No crying!

“You have to!”

“What if I fall?”

“I’m holding you!”

“No!”

Jungwoo guessed he wasn’t holding very well.

“You have to get Appa!” Yukhei sobbed and Jungwoo’s heart sunk.

“No. We’re not allowed to leave.”

“Appa! I want Appa!”

“I said I can’t!”

Yukhei sobbed and looked down with wide, scared eyes, tears rolling down his cheeks.

“Okay, I’ll get him.”

Jungwoo was nervous when he climbed down how he had so many times before. He looked up to Yukhei, who was exactly where he had been, frozen in place and crying.

There was no other option. He couldn’t leave Yukhei all alone and scared in the tree.

However, when he turned the direction of their camp, he saw someone had apparently already noticed they were missing and was coming from the strawberry-field.

Jungwoo swallowed thickly.

“What are you two doing here?” Ten’s face was stern and Jungwoo forgot all about how life was super unfair. Ten was strict. Really strict. The strictest. He regretted coming, the clearing was fine and his brother not even that annoying.

“Daddy, please, I don’t know how to get down!” Yukhei wailed, saving Jungwoo from answering.

Without another word, Ten marched past Jungwoo and effortlessly climbed the tree that Yukhei was stuck on. It was so cool. He plucked Yukhei off his branch as if he was a cherry in summer and just moments later, they were on the ground, safe and sound, Yukhei clinging to his trousers and crying. 

Jungwoo felt really bad, so bad he also started to cry. Just a little.

“Alright, you two. Too brave for your own good, aren’t you? Come on, let’s get back to camp. I assume you both know better not to try this nonsense again.”

Jungwoo sniffled and waddled behind the two, past the strawberries.

But it had been really cool before Yukhei had gotten stuck.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me: worked in paediatrician’s office  
> Also me: zero understanding of child development  
> I think kids aged 4 can climb stuff, though. Idc. This is fiction lol.
> 
> Thank you for reading ~ Please let me know what you think ^^
> 
> [CC](https://curiouscat.me/Fox_155)  
> Twitter: @155Fox


	2. Chapter 2 – The Twelfth Summer

The sun was too hot for Jungwoo to focus on his work. It was burning mercilessly.

So, he had given up. His shirt was looking quite decent already and he’d finish the seams another time. Maybe in the evening when the sun would sink and no longer grill him like she was right now. Everyone else had already left but Jungwoo had thought he could pull through. Turned out he couldn’t.

He guessed his brother and the chaos team were swimming in the lake with some of the adults watching, so he didn’t want to be there. It wasn’t like he hated Jaemin anymore or anything, he was fine most of the time when he didn’t steal their parents’ attention or placed snails in Jungwoo’s bed as a hilarious joke.

He and his three friends were just generally annoying because there were four of them and one was louder than the next and they constantly tried to best each other with the pranks they pulled. They were all super lame, stuff like throwing sand or stealing needles, so Jungwoo never entertained them unless it was Jaemin.

Yukhei did, though. And since they got spurred on by his reactions, it got worse and worse. Jungwoo could only imagine how it’d be in a few summers.

Obviously, Yukhei didn’t care about that type of foresight even though Jungwoo kept pointing it out.

Speaking of, Yukhei had been on babysitting duty, so he wasn’t far. Babies as in actual babies, not even able to shift yet and nowhere near able to pull pranks – though Jungwoo guessed what one younger brother would do, another would do as well. Or maybe they’d play pranks on Donghyuck and company?

Jisung and Chenle were adorable, though, when they weren’t having tantrums, and you mostly played with them or sang, so it was fun. Jungwoo guessed he could look for them and join Yukhei, maybe go swimming once he was done.

Instead of playing, Jungwoo found Yukhei and the puppies napping. Yukhei had been born nine cycles of seasons before his youngest brother Jisung and same-aged Chenle and he was about five times their size and they both had curled up against him for safety. It was a really adorable picture and Jungwoo waited to watch them for a bit.

It was a hot day, taking a nap was rather reasonable, wasn’t it? Jungwoo guessed he could nap a bit as well.

When he woke up, the burning noon sun was gone and he needed a second to realise where he was. Right. He had napped.

Jungwoo sat up and rubbed his eyes.

“You’re so lazy, sleeping while everyone else works.”

He looked up and found Yukhei standing a couple of steps away, cocky grin on his face.

Jungwoo shrugged.

“You started it. Are you done babysitting already?”

“Yep. Wanna go for a swim? I feel like I’m marinating in my sweat.”

“Definitely.”

Jungwoo held his hand up and Yukhei grabbed it, easily pulling him to his feet. Jungwoo yawned again and Yukhei squeezed his cheeks, laughing. Turning his head fast, Jungwoo managed to lick his hand and Yukhei screeched how it was disgusting and now he had Jungwoo’s spit all over him and how that was the grossest thing to happen to him.

It was quite funny.

Since that summer when Jungwoo had been four, they had not snuck away again because Yukhei had been scared and Jungwoo hadn’t really felt all that brave anymore either.

The summer after, their parents had allowed them into the woods alone. His dads had shown him the paths to take and they had explained exactly until where they could go so they were still within a safe distance from the camp.

That was how far the five younger puppies were allowed to go now. Five, because Donghyuck had found a lonely one that was probably their age in the strawberry field last spring. Mark was almost invisible compared to the other four, though. He was shy and quiet and never even attempted any pranks.

Jungwoo and Yukhei, on the other hand, were allowed much deeper into the forest on their land by now. Since last spring, they had started to learn how to hunt and while their parents didn’t want them near the borders alone yet because they’d make a very easy target, they were allowed much further than their younger siblings.

“Let’s go to the fish-lake!” Jungwoo suggested.

“It’s so far, though! I’m hotter than is allowed,” Yukhei grinned and flexed his measly biceps. Jungwoo raised an eyebrow, unimpressed. “Fine, if you want.”

“I want.” Jungwoo grinned. He knew he usually got his way, the other adults sometimes scolded his dads for spoiling him and his brother so much, but Jungwoo liked calling the shots.

If Yukhei didn’t like it, he didn’t do it and Jungwoo would be fine with that.

They had long figured out how to best get along. It wasn’t just because they were the only kids their age, Jungwoo felt like he and Yukhei had been lucky in how well their dynamics matched. While someone was constantly rolling through the dirt fighting between the chaos team, he and Yukhei usually solved their disagreements peacefully.

Jungwoo also wasn’t ready to fight every day of the seasons the way Jaemin was.

It was too hot to run, so they strolled down the small paths. Some branches were in the way because they didn’t maintain the less used routes that well, but they easily found their way through the trees. By the time they arrived at the lake, the sun was already nearing her lowest point before she’d set.

“We shouldn’t get lost in time,” Yukhei pointed out and Jungwoo nodded. “So. Let’s jump from the bolder!” With that, Yukhei ripped his shirt over his head and was running already.

“Hey! That’s unfair!” Jungwoo yelled, hot on his heels, but he knew he had no chance to catch up. It was always like this and he did the same as Yukhei.

With a howl, Yukhei jumped, twisting in the air before he splashed into the water and Jungwoo waited for him to resurface to follow.

They managed to get home just a little late and with one smile, Jungwoo got himself out of trouble while Yukhei got an ear-full from his father.

“Dry your hair properly or you’ll get cold,” was all his Appa said.

“That’s why they say you’re a spoilt brat.”

“No one says that. They say that about Jaemin because he actually is,” Jungwoo looked over to where Jaemin was trying to tell Mark something that seemed to terrify Mark greatly.

“Guess it’s your excellent personality that makes everyone but me think you’re a sweet person and not someone who’ll elbow me to get ahead,” Yukhei sighed.

“So you admit you just made that up.”

“No.”

“You’re so stupid,” Jungwoo laughed and nudged his shoulder against Yukhei’s.

Next to homework and babysitting and free days, most days, Jungwoo and all the other puppies, except Chenle and Jisung, would have to help out and learn. There were a lot of things you had to do in a pack; cooking, sewing, cleaning, hunting, maintaining tents and paths in the forest, preparing the prey to be turned into leathers, furs, and food, tending to the fields, chopping wood and making tools.

And border patrol.

To help border patrol and to keep their pack safe, you had to know how to fight. It was Jungwoo’s least favourite subject, but that didn’t mean that the other ones didn’t frustrate him either. Jungwoo did quite well in most of the tasks he was presented with, however, he knew he couldn’t do anything without help and it never turned out how it would if his Dad made it.

“It’s all about practising, sweetie.”

Jungwoo glared at the basket in his hands. It was half-finished and the walls warped.

“I don’t like practising.”

“So? What else are you going to do?” His Dad took the unfinished basket from his hands and started to push the thin branches around, realigning them and straightening them out until the warped wall became nice and evenly curved.

Jungwoo felt tears of frustration because he didn’t know how to do that.

“Look? It’s a very beautiful basket, you can be proud of that.”

He sniffed and reached out, but rather than return his basket, his Dad scooted closer and wrapped an arm around him.

Jungwoo held onto him and buried his face in his shirt letting his angry tears be soaked up.

“I just want to be good right now how you are.”

“But I’ve already lived twenty-one summers more than you have, so how would it be fair if you were just as good as I?”

Jungwoo guessed that was right, but he still hated not being good.

It was the same when he messed up a fur or his stitches were ugly or his soup tasted bland.

“I want to be twenty-one summers older then.”

“Oh, you will be, there’s no other option. And when you are, you’ll have all these skills and make even more beautiful baskets and think back to how hard you worked to get there and that it was worth it not to give up.”

Jungwoo sniffled and sat up, rubbing the last tears away.

“Really? Did you also make warped baskets?”

“Oh, plenty. I made a lot of mistakes, I was so bad they always said, ah, Taeyong, he’ll never become a full member of any pack with how bad he is at everything.”

Jungwoo could hardly believe that!

But it was good to know because his Dad was very good at everything now.

“Okay.”

“Want to continue? Because it’s already looking really good.”

“Okay. Thank you.”

“Of course, sweetie.”

“Did you cry?” Was the first thing Yukhei asked when they sat down for dinner. Yukhei had been doing laundry with the chaos team and his fingers were wrinkly when he touched Jungwoo’s cheek.

Jungwoo swatted his hand away.

“Yeah.”

“Why?”

“Just because. Did you finish?”

Yukhei groaned.

“Yeah, barely because Renjun almost drowned Donghyuck and then Donghyuck wailed forever and Jeno and he sat on the side instead of helping. I know he only did it because Kun would feel bad for him and allow him to take a break to calm down not because he actually felt bad, he never usually does.”

Jungwoo hummed. Renjun physically fought with Donghyuck and Jaemin a lot and usually won because he had the edge in height. Or maybe he would have won anyway. He was like a bundle of anger, it was kind of funny yet worrisome, not even Jaemin was as eager to beat people up.

“So I had to do most of his laundry as well, but now it’s all done and we have peace for the time being. What did you do? Other than cry?”

“Shut up. I continued my basket. It’s almost done.”

“Mm. Mine like… broke.”

“Yeah, I saw what Johnny tried to save, it looks pretty bad.”

Yukhei chomped down on his food angrily.

“It’s not my fault.”

Jungwoo chuckled. He felt like he still lacked a lot, but at least when it came to baskets, he was a lot better than Yukhei. In turn, Yukhei was a better tailor, but Jungwoo was better at skinning, though Yukhei was better at carving… it was hard to decide who’d be the winner in comparison.

“It just broke all of a sudden despite the branches having been soaked to be flexible. I see.”

“Yeah. Anyway, I need to go to bed early because I’ll be on the hunt tomorrow.”

Yukhei puffed his chest and Jungwoo nodded. Yukhei was super into hunting and Jungwoo wasn’t. They were a perfect match.

“So you won’t listen to Kun?”

Yukhei faltered. They all shared a tent, which was how the chaos team attempted to stage most of their pranks which involved hiding something presumably scary in the blankets. Usually, it was Kun or Ten sleeping there with them so Jisung and Chenle could join them.

Jungwoo knew that when he had been little, he had slept with his parents until he had been four and deemed old enough to no longer sleep in his parents’ bed, but with more puppies around, he guessed this made more sense.

He sometimes wondered about the logistics of it all because they had to do border patrol and have someone sleep in their tent and do all the other things. It was interesting and he felt like since he wasn’t that tiny anymore and the eldest of the puppies, he should try to understand because in the future he might have to make important decisions.

Ever since overcoming his hatred for his little brother, he had wanted to have kids, too, one day. Especially since Jisung and Chenle. They were really cute and to see them grow and learn so fast was nothing short of amazing. He hoped to experience that, too, one day.

When Kun slept in their tent, he told them bed-time stories. Kun knew the best stories out of everyone and the way he told them made you feel like you were actually there. Jungwoo loved listening to them and he knew so did everyone else. Even his parents did, sometimes during a late and warm summer night when the youngest pups were already in bed, they’d still sit by the fire and listen to Kun’s tales.

“Well, I guess it won’t be too late since the little ones have to sleep earlier anyway.”

“True.”

In summer, cuddling wasn’t convenient most nights because it’d just be too warm, but it was late enough in the season to no longer have to discuss how to sleep so they’d keep the biggest possible distance between themselves.

As Jeno, Jaemin, and Donghyuck argued which story they wanted to hear, Jungwoo rolled onto Yukhei’s furs and blankets, throwing an arm over his shoulders.

Yukhei grunted, but he didn’t move away. He sometimes had, since this winter. Had said that Jungwoo was too clingy and he wasn’t a baby anymore. Jungwoo had tried to find out why by bugging Yukhei about it, but he wouldn’t explain himself and Jungwoo had given up and just respected he wanted to be alone sometimes.

So he enjoyed it even more when Yukhei allowed him close. He liked skinship, it was comforting.

“Alright, I’ll be telling you the story of the brother and sister tonight.”

Jungwoo always cried by the end of that story and he felt Yukhei run a hand over his arm, tugging him a little closer as if to prepare for the inevitable.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading ~ Please let me know what you think ^^
> 
> [CC](https://curiouscat.me/Fox_155)  
> Twitter: @155Fox


	3. Chapter 3 – The Fourteenth Spring

Around their 14th birthday, people presented. It was pretty normal. Most people were either alpha or omega on top of being male or female. It wasn’t something to be scared of, so his dads had always said, and Jungwoo had never been. It didn’t matter to him what he’d end up as.

“I don’t care either. I only want to grow as tall as Appa,” Yukhei announced and let the stone skip over the surface of the pond they were sitting by.

“Yeah, being tall is cool because your wolf is bigger and you have an advantage fighting.” Jungwoo also threw his stone, but he hadn’t given it enough drive and it only bounced once before sinking. With a huff, he looked for another to make up for that embarrassment because he was the best at bouncing stones – but he wasn’t a good fighter and he needed a size-advantage to keep up.

“Yeah, for the border. Just in case anyone ever tried anything funny, I’d definitely want to kick their asses really hard.”

They both nodded and Yukhei followed his stone up. It bounced six times and they both gasped in surprise because only Jungwoo could usually do that.

“Did you see that? That was so cool!”

“Humble as ever,” Jungwoo snorted, feeling a bit defensive of his title, but also feeling happy for Yukhei because it had been really impressive.

“Admit it was so cool!”

“Guess it was okay.”

“Say it was cool!” Yukhei suddenly pushed his face right into Jungwoo’s, brows furrowed.

Jungwoo forgot how words worked for a second because he was so surprised.

“Uh. It was cool?”

Yukhei hummed and nodded, satisfied with himself while Jungwoo considered whether he was ready to share his title with Yukhei.

“Anyway, I think I should still be taller than you because you fight, like, pretty bad.”

“Excuse me?” Jungwoo jerked around in indignation.

“Just saying. You’re lazy.”

“I’m not. I do just fine! And even then, I’d need more height to be better! Which I don’t, I just want to be taller to be more handsome.”

Yukhei didn’t reply, so Jungwoo knew he still thought so.

He stood up and took two steps, then leaned down and started splashing water at Yukhei, who gasped and was so surprised, he just sat there for seconds and let Jungwoo splash him until he was soaked.

“Take that back!” Jungwoo stepped closer and leaned down into Yukhei’s face. Water was dripping from his hair and he just stared back blankly.

“I said take it back!”

“Uh. S…sorry?”

Jungwoo narrowed his eyes and Yukhei suddenly got up very hurriedly.

“I just remembered I still have to help dad. I’ll leave first.”

And with that, he was gone and Jungwoo realised he was also quite wet and it was starting to become cold.

Well, he had brought that upon himself, hadn’t he?

Weirdly, when Jungwoo got back, Yukhei had not yet shown up and Ten and Sicheng were by the fire, chatting and carving needles.

Jungwoo guessed Yukhei had lied to him to get away, he just wasn’t sure why and when Yukhei was back to normal the next morning, he never brought it back up.

Other than when their dads forced them to do something together for family bonding, Jungwoo didn’t spend much time with Jaemin alone. The age difference was too severe, they didn’t share interests and their skill-levels were worlds apart.

So Jungwoo was surprised when Jaemin sought him out while he was finishing up his homework. However, just one look at his face told him he was just here because there was no other option.

“Jungwoo! Please! You have to help me!”

Jungwoo returned his attention to the flower that was not looking how it was supposed to at all right now. Trampled flowers, Donghyuck called them, and it was the most fitting description. Jungwoo didn’t even have to be good at embroidery to embroider anything because it was a very time-consuming and non-essential step to clothmaking, but he _wanted_ to be good.

“Do I?”

“Please, please, please, you’re my favouritestest and bestest brother and I love you so much, but you have to save me, please!”

Jungwoo sighed and pinned his needles into the fabric to not lose it and keep the thread from getting too twisted.

“What did you do?”

Jaemin gasped in relief and sat down, then produced something wrapped in a piece of cloth from his pocket. When he unrolled it, Jungwoo saw it had used to be a figurine, though it was broken so badly it took him a bit to figure out it had once been an elk, with magnificent antlers and all – just broken.

“Please, can you fix it? I have resin and all, I just,” Jaemin’s voice broke and he paled a little. “This is Renjun’s and I didn’t even ask if I could have it.”

Jungwoo couldn’t hold a snort.

“You’re dead meat.”

“I _know_!”

“He’ll be able to tell it was glued together.”

“Yes, but at least I can return it to him and say we can still play with that.” Jaemin looked very desperate and Jungwoo understood why.

“Fine.”

“Thank you! You’re the kindest big brother of them all!”

“It’s not that high a praise with the current competition, you realise?”

“I love you!”

So, instead of finishing his flower, he pieced the broken figurine back together and while it was obvious it had been broken, Jungwoo was quite proud of the result. You could definitely still play with that.

Renjun screaming at Jaemin could be heard all over the clearing in the evening, but that had been expected. At least Jaemin didn’t get his nose broken or anything.

“I always feel like Renjun would have done well with a sibling. It calms you down.” Yukhei mused over his popped corn.

“Since when? Donghyuck and you are constantly trying to make each other’s lives harder and get in trouble with your parents because of it?”

“True. But _you’re_ calm.”

“I’m just a kind and wonderful person, to begin with.”

“Right.”

The reason why Jungwoo and Yukhei talked about presenting and about being omega or alpha from time to time was their age. Jungwoo would turn fourteen in early summer and Yukhei a bit over a moon later.

So Jungwoo wasn’t really surprised when he woke up in the middle of the night feeling, well, _awful_. It was still a moon until his birthday, but there wasn’t a fixed time for this to happen, it could be earlier or later.

Apparently, it was earlier for Jungwoo because the feeling couldn’t be anything but his presentation.

Or serious illness.

Jungwoo sat up and tried to take a deep breath to clear his head, but it had the opposite effect. It smelt differently than it normally would. A sweet and floral scent that Jungwoo didn’t know what to do with and that messed with his head. His head that was in utter chaos even if he wasn’t smelling weird scents.

He felt so unsettled and weirdly scared, he couldn’t even think straight.

He hugged himself and felt his hands shaking despite being too hot.

Heat? Rut? Probably heat, right?

He was probably smelling himself, wasn’t he? He knew he should be able to for a few days until his head would be used to his own scent and ignore it mostly. He was quite sure this was his scent and sweet scents were associated with omegas. He guessed that’d make sense and that brought both security and even more chaos to his head.

He should probably get out of here.

Awkwardly, he scooted away from Yukhei towards where Kun was sleeping next to Jisung and Chenle, careful not to wake anyone up.

Other than Kun, that was.

It took just Jungwoo touching his arm for him to stir.

Jungwoo guessed that had been rather uneventful, though he had nothing to compare to.

Kun had put him into the medical tent so he’d not be bothered – and not bothering anyone else. After that, he had gotten his Dad and Jungwoo had cried just a bit and not even for a clear reason, he had just been overwhelmed.

After that, he had gone back to sleep. Nothing crazy or worrisome. Rather boring.

So, omega.

Jungwoo guessed that was good. He wouldn’t have cared and he still didn’t, at least he didn’t _think_ he cared about being an omega.

The weird thing that he _did_ care about was just suddenly being… well, presented? He wasn’t an adult yet, not by a long shot, but he was closer and he could suddenly smell things he never had been able to smell before.

His eyes had turned to a light blue, indicating him being an omega just like his dad’s. Someone unpresented couldn’t smell him yet, but they still knew because of his eyes. Someone like Yukhei.

It was kind of nerve-wracking and Jungwoo wasn’t even sure why. He just felt nervous about going back outside since his heat had ended three days after he had woken up and realised what was happening.

He didn’t want anything to change when there wasn’t a reason to, but what if everyone else would change things?

What if Yukhei didn’t want to spend time with him anymore? Jungwoo already knew that he’d be living in his own tent from now on and while he understood why and wanted it, he felt like it’d be quite lonely even though Yukhei didn’t let him cuddle often.

There was a chance of Yukhei turning out an omega as well and that ending again, but Jungwoo had a gut feeling that it wouldn’t be like that. He had no proof, of course, you couldn’t know before. Just a gut feeling.

That was even more worrying. What if he was right and Yukhei would be an alpha and then they’d probably be expected to get mated and stuff? No one had ever said that, so maybe Jungwoo was overthinking, but in the stories that was what usually happened.

It wasn’t like Yukhei disgusted him or would be a terrible mate, not at all, actually, but he was just his friend and always had been. Jungwoo didn’t want that to change, which was the issue.

Or maybe he was creating an issue?

Jungwoo took another deep breath and hoped his heart would finally calm down.

He was just going to get breakfast how he always did, pretending everything was normal.

Slowly, he got off the bed and took the three steps to the tent’s door, opening it hesitantly. It was nice outside, quite warm already because summer was so close, and the birds chirping loudly.

Jungwoo took a deep breath and realised he had not been out here in three days. He hadn’t missed it, but he really loved leaving now, so he forgot about being nervous and left the tent to head to the fireplace.

His Dad was roasting something but it looked like he had been doing it for too long from how black one side was. Cooking and sewing had never been his fortes.

“Is this charcoal?” Jungwoo asked, walking over until he was next to him.

“It’s a nice toasted bread, can’t you tell?” He replied and turned it.

“That side looks good, but the other could have fooled me.”

“Do you want one? I’ll make a fresh one.”

“If it’s not black then yes, I do.”

His Dad pulled the bread from the fire and onto a plate. Jungwoo guessed he could maybe give this to Jaemin and get a good laugh out of it, but when his Dad turned to give him a morning hug, he remembered that he was nervous. He had never before been able to smell the scent of alpha on his Dad and now he could. It felt so weird. Even weirder was that his Dad wasn’t even that much taller than he was anymore as Jungwoo was already almost as tall as his shorter Appa.

“Is everything okay, sweetie?”

Jungwoo realised tears had collected in his eyes and he tried blinking them away.

“I feel weird.” He softly admitted, not wanting anyone else who was just having breakfast to overhear. At least his brother and his loud friends weren’t up yet. He felt rather silly and didn’t want anyone to make fun of him.

“It’s new, right? You handled everything so quietly, I was wondering if you didn’t feel confused at all.”

Jungwoo let his Dad take the plate from his hand and put aside so he could hug him. His fathers had always hugged him a lot and Jungwoo always found great comfort in that.

“It’s okay to feel confused or overwhelmed.”

Jungwoo was relieved to hear that. Maybe it was because he was the oldest and had no one to look to how to take this.

When his Dad let go and ruffled his hair roughly how he always did, Jungwoo felt reassured.

It got awkward again when he found Yukhei in the working tent where he had planned to prepare for class after his Dad had said they’d be taught by Taeil in the morning. Taeil taught all sorts of handiwork, so Jungwoo had planned to put everything out to get started right away since he had missed three days of work.

He didn’t even know what to say, it felt so awkward because Yukhei jerked upright and stared at him as if he was a bear that had come through the door and would have him for a second breakfast.

“Hi?” Jungwoo managed after a couple of moment of silence.

Yukhei opened and closed his mouth twice, still staring.

Jungwoo wasn’t sure whether to just grab his things or to say something - but what - or just leave again.

“Hi,” Yukhei finally returned and cleared his throat, then looked away. After another moment of hesitation, he opened his parents’ chest and started grabbing his own handiwork projects.

Jungwoo finally unfroze and did the same. He saw Jaemin’s shabby knit blanket he was working on and pulled the needles from the loops just because. When he pushed it aside to find the sock he had started before his heat, he noticed that Jaemin had done the same thing.

“Brat.”

“What?”

Jungwoo startled.

“Oh. Uh. Sorry. What did you say?”

“Jaemin pulled the needles from my socks,” Jungwoo muttered.

Yukhei was suddenly next to him and Jungwoo just felt so… awkward.

“But you already pulled the needles from his blanket.”

“Yeah, well.”

“You did well,” Yukhei announced and patted his shoulder. That felt a lot more normal. “My stupid brother unrolled my yarn, cut it in several places, and rolled it back up while you were in heat.”

Jungwoo couldn’t help chuckling at that. It sounded just like Donghyuck.

“And?”

“I ratted him out to Dad, of course, and he got a lecture. And then I dumped my weeds on his part of the field.”

“That’s so mean.” Jungwoo sighed but he didn’t have much room to talk since he had just gotten back at Jaemin just as pettily. He didn’t do it much because he didn’t feel all that entertained pranking other people, but Jaemin needed to feel the consequences of his actions sometimes.

“Your eyes are so pretty!” Yukhei suddenly burst out and Jungwoo froze all over, the awkwardness suddenly back in full force.

Yukhei seemed to realise he had said that out loud a few seconds later and started blushing.

“Uh.” “Erm.”

They both cleared their throats.

“Thanks, I guess.”

“You’re welcome. I won’t say that again.”

“Would be better if you didn’t.”

“Mm.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading ~ Please let me know what you think ^^
> 
> [CC](https://curiouscat.me/Fox_155)  
> Twitter: @155Fox


	4. Chapter 4 – The Fifteenth Autumn

A big part of their training was learning how to fight.

It wasn’t one of Jungwoo’s favourite things to do, but he understood how important it was that he’d be able to protect himself. It also helped hunting.

Jungwoo hated hunting. He knew it was also incredibly important, but he had gotten hurt by a boar when he had been ten and that was always on his mind when he hunted even though he had long made a full recovery and knew what had gone wrong so he’d not make the same mistake again.

He would pick something that didn’t involve hunting once he was old enough to choose, but he knew he’d be needed on border patrol because their pack was so small.

He _needed_ to know how to defend himself at the very least.

If there was an attack, he’d be an easy target since he was an omega and many packs didn’t teach omegas to fight and thus would single him out as a weak link, as Sicheng so often reminded him. He knew their pack had been attacked a handful of times, mostly before he had even been born. His Appa had a bad knee, which was how they always called it, due to one of these attacks.

If he hadn’t been able to defend himself a bad knee wouldn’t be his only worry, his Dad had told Jungwoo very sternly when he had said that omega instincts made fighting more difficult.

His Dad took fighting extremely seriously and Jungwoo tried to pull himself together because of all of this, but it was difficult.

Their group was mixed, so Jungwoo also had to fight against Jeno, Mark, Jaemin, Renjun, and Donghyuck from time to time. Since they were just tiny, he usually won those fights, though Jaemin and Renjun always fought tooth and nail and Jungwoo guessed the second Renjun hit a growth spurt it’d be over for him.

Most of the time, he fought against Yukhei, though.

He knew how he fought and Yukhei knew him just as well. Jungwoo usually lost and sometimes he had to re-do the duel to do better, but he tried.

Today wasn’t like it usually was, though.

Jungwoo knew fully well that Yukhei held back. They sometimes had to fight against the adults to truly challenge them and Yukhei showed what he truly had when he did and Jungwoo knew he didn’t do this with him.

The vicious growl with which Jungwoo was attacked today painted an entirely different picture of their training, though.

The air was knocked out of Jungwoo’s lungs when Yukhei punched him in the gut and he needed a second to recover – both physically and mentally.

He didn’t appreciate Yukhei being this mean. He wasn’t like Jaemin who proudly walked home with a blue eye. He liked to stay as unharmed as possible.

Especially with Yukhei, it was usually so hard to ignore his submissive instincts, but this pissed him off. Yukhei used his moment of weakness to push his shoulder, but Jungwoo had recovered and pushed back, not letting himself be thrown off balance.

With a scream of fury, Jungwoo punched Yukhei just how he had, but Yukhei didn’t go down immediately, so Jungwoo followed the punch up immediately, once, twice, three times until Yukhei groaned.

This wasn’t even about avoiding Sicheng’s scolding and making them re-do the fight because Jungwoo had not tried hard enough. This was about Yukhei being fucking disrespectful.

Yukhei got back at him, knocking his head against Jungwoo’s jaw, but he kicked and Yukhei stumbled back. Jungwoo tasted blood and his head hurt. He took a moment and let Yukhei recover, but Yukhei had still not come to his senses and when he lunged at Jungwoo again, he got angry again, overcoming the moment of doubt and worry.

Usually, they had to fight until one gave up, but Yukhei was hellbent on not going down and so was Jungwoo.

He had never fought Yukhei to the blood and he hated it at the same time that he kept going.

Until Sicheng suddenly called.

“Stop!”

They both froze and Jungwoo felt relief and pain flood him.

“Fuck. Oh moon, Jungwoo, I’m so sorry!” Yukhei gasped. There was blood running down his chin and Jungwoo had to laugh a bit, but he spat out blood as well.

“Impressive. Why don’t you do this all the time?” Sicheng drily asked as Jungwoo tried to get over his disgust at the situation.

Because it was gross.

Jungwoo didn’t say that because Sicheng probably wouldn’t understand.

The peanut gallery was still watching with wide eyes as Yukhei and Jungwoo moved away from the centre where they had been beating each other up.

“Really sorry,” Yukhei muttered when they sat down. “I didn’t mean to.”

“Yeah, that was uncalled for,” Jungwoo muttered back, but still reached out to wipe the blood off Yukhei’s face.

Yukhei held still and stared back, not even blinking, as if he was in a trance and Jungwoo became awkward after a few moments and left the rest of the blood on his chin, turning to where Jeno and Mark were facing each other, rolling their shoulders. Jeno was going to lose, he always lost against Mark.

Jungwoo grabbed a few fallen leaves and used them to get the blood off his own face.

He tried to understand what had just happened and why, but he didn’t know and just gave up while Mark brought Jeno down.

Jungwoo picked up a scent he didn’t know and glanced around, but he didn’t hear or see anyone. It was quite faint, so he might be imagining it.

“Alright, Jaemin and Donghyuck go next!” Sicheng called and Jungwoo licked his fingers to get rid of the residue blood. He didn’t want a repeat of this, but he wasn’t sure he’d hold back if Yukhei was to tick him off like this again.

Donghyuck whined about being paired with Jaemin and Jaemin cackled. It was an unfair match because Donghyuck never even tried. He sometimes lost to Chenle and Chenle was five cycles of seasons younger than he was and correspondingly tinier.

Sicheng was having none of it and Jungwoo nodded along to the same words he had heard so often.

Donghyuck went down within heartbeats and Jungwoo looked around because the scent got stronger.

Suddenly, a growl ripped over the clearing and Jungwoo jerked around in shock, assuming some invader to have been the source of the unknown scent after all, only to see Yukhei had jumped into the middle of the clearing and ripped Jaemin off Donghyuck.

“Hands off my baby brother, or I will…”

He didn’t get further. Sicheng delivered a hard chop on his neck from behind and Yukhei went down like a rag doll.

Jungwoo stared at the scene in utter shock, not even remembering to breathe until Jaemin started coughing where he had gone down, holding his neck.

Donghyuck got up and so did Jungwoo.

What was wrong with Yukhei?

Jungwoo felt as furious as he had for getting beaten up just earlier. He couldn’t let it out on the person responsible, though, because Yukhei was still out.

“Well, guess training is over for today. Are you okay, Jaeminnie?” Sicheng asked and grabbed the unconscious Yukhei by his arms, pulling him off the ground. Despite his anger, Jungwoo felt worried at the sight.

“Yeah,” Jaemin wheezed and Jungwoo finally hurried over to check on him.

“The question is, is he okay? Or did his brain finally fry?” Donghyuck asked, but his voice was shaky.

“He will be. What you just saw was an Alpha presenting. So, I’ll get him away from here and find Johnny,” Sicheng smiled. “Enjoy the evening. And remember to help Yuta with cooking duty.”

Jungwoo was not on cooking duty but the chaos team was. 

So.

He had been right, huh?

He could smell the scent clearly now. It was definitely an alpha’s scent, but everyone had their personal note. Yukhei smelt of juniper.

It was a very nice smell, but Jungwoo was boiling with anger.

He had also presented and, yes, there had been an onslaught of instincts, but he had not let that out on _two_ people.

He turned back to Jaemin.

“It almost doesn’t look red anymore,” he mumbled.

“It’s fine. It was just a little… squeezing,” Jaemin puffed his chicken chest, but his pale face didn’t lie. Jungwoo rolled his eyes.

“It looked super lame,” Jisung cut in and a second later, the two were rolling over the ground, fighting. Jisung had to surrender quite immediately and Jungwoo didn’t feel like his presence was needed here anymore and he still had homework to do, so he left.

He marched towards their camp, the scent of juniper following him – or rather the other way around.

He hoped Yukhei had a good explanation for why he had let himself be overwhelmed by his instincts like that and would never do that again.

Because Jungwoo was not going to be friends with someone who was out for blood and would harm his little brother – even though Jaemin was extremely annoying.

“Oh, Jungwoo, let me look at that!” His Dad had gasped and proceeded to thoroughly clean Jungwoo’s chin up, check his teeth, his tongue, and nose. Nothing was broken or in any way permanently damaged.

“How did that happen?” He asked when he was done and Jungwoo ignored his rabbits that needed scrubbing and leaned against his dad to cuddle a little. Yukhei most definitely wasn’t going to entertain that anymore and even before his presentation right now, he had been extremely stingy and Jungwoo had had to go to his fathers all the time.

“Um, well, Yukhei was being weird, guess because of his presentation, and I got mad and then we fought harder than we usually do until Sicheng stopped us.”

“What? Sicheng let you fight until you were drenched in blood?” His dad gasped. “When Yukhei was presenting, no less? I’ll have to have a word with him, him watching you get hurt is unacceptable!”

Jungwoo guessed he hadn’t been _drenched in blood_ , but he also knew his Dad fighting with Sicheng wasn’t going to change anything anyway and he didn’t want to defend Yukhei. This had happened before and his Appa had told him not to worry about them because Sicheng and his Dad had always been really close.

So Jungwoo had to scrub his rabbits, after all, because his Dad left to complain to his teacher or something.

“Jungwoo?”

Jungwoo groaned and forced an eye open. It was probably morning, but he didn’t want to wake up yet.

“Jungwoo, are you up?”

“No!” He hissed back. That was Yukhei and Jungwoo was still angry with Yukhei.

“I’m really sorry for beating you up three days ago. I feel so ashamed.”

“I hope you do. Go away!”

“Aren’t you going to accept it?”

“No, shut up!”

Jungwoo closed his eyes again and wanted to go back to sleep, but of course, he was too angry to do so and the scent of juniper was invading his nose.

Well, at least Yukhei had tried and right away, it seemed.

Still. Jungwoo wasn’t ready to face him. This felt like the day after his first heat all over, just topped off with anger.

He didn’t know how to handle it, so he stayed in bed until it felt like it was time to get up or be late.

When he got to the fireplace, Yukhei was still there and Jungwoo pointedly ignored him, sitting down with Kun and Ten instead.

He knew Yukhei wasn’t doing the same, though.

“Someone is trying to get your attention,” Kun pointed the obvious out when Jungwoo was nearly done, probably to suggest Jungwoo do Yukhei the favour of paying him that attention he wanted.

“Don’t care.”

“Oh? What’s wrong?” Ten asked and Jungwoo stared at his plate. He wasn’t going to whine about this to Yukhei’s dad. He _was_ whiney and probably spoilt, but this was too much.

“Jaemin accepted his apology earlier, just in case that was still on your mind,” Kun added.

“That’s nice. I didn’t, though.”

Ten made a noise between a snort and a laugh and Jungwoo was finally done and decided to flee before it’d get too embarrassing.

It was weird to ignore Yukhei for an entire day, but Jungwoo remained firm and Yukhei didn’t do anything other than throw him these looks.

Sometimes Jungwoo glared back and Yukhei would look like a kicked puppy. Only a kicked puppy with red eyes. That was so weird. Jungwoo suddenly understood why Yukhei had burst out with that compliment when he had been newly presented because it was impossible to ignore the eyes. Yukhei’s were deep red, similar to Johnny’s, but that was expected. Jungwoo’s own looked like his Appa’s, too. It changed his appearance. He looked… good.

So Jungwoo was happy not to talk to him and accidentally burst that out as well.

When he stood opposite of Yukhei during training the next day, all the anger that had built up over five days was ready to burst and Jungwoo didn’t hold back. He charged at Yukhei the second Doyoung said to start.

“This will be my personal revenge, you idiot!”

Yukhei was so surprised, Jungwoo got the upper hand before he even managed to react and Jungwoo was so furious, he didn’t stand a chance. Jungwoo forced him down into the dirt and no amount of struggling helped Yukhei as Jungwoo pressed his knee into his back without mercy until he submitted.

Neither of them spoke as they sat down on the side to watch the others.

After a while, Jungwoo felt Yukhei’s knee against his. He looked up. The eyes still weirded him out because of how they made Yukhei look.

The question was unspoken but clear in his face.

Jungwoo sighed and scooted closer.

“It’s fine. But you better not do that again, that was so gross and not fun at all. And leave _my_ baby brother alone.”

“Yes! I will! Definitely!” Yukhei whispered back. “Promised!”

“Okay. Your eyes are really handsome.”

Jungwoo slapped his hand over his mouth. He had tried so hard to avoid this slipping out and yet…

“Uh. Thanks?”

The air between them was thick with awkwardness.

“I won’t say that again. Sorry.”

“Ah. Yeah. I guess.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hehehe now it went both ways
> 
> [CC](https://curiouscat.me/Fox_155)


	5. Chapter 5 – The Sixteenth Winter

It had snowed for the first time of this winter last night. When Jungwoo opened the door of his tent, powdery snow fell inside and he hurried to push it back out and keep his home dry.

It was already freezing because he was living on his own.

In summer, it was fine, even a privilege because he remembered arguing with Yukhei who would face which way to keep them from touching and over-heating through the night. In winter, it was the other way around.

Not like he wanted to cuddle with Yukhei, though. Well, maybe he did, a little, but he knew his body would react weirdly to that. They never cuddled anymore because Jungwoo didn’t quite dare to suggest it and Yukhei never had even when they had still been little. It sometimes happened even when they weren’t cuddling, so he knew it’d be worse if they were.

Sometimes the weirdest things were enough to make him feel nervous, feel his eyes get stuck on Yukhei for too long, or become embarrassingly turned on. He knew it was normal for this to happen, but it didn’t change how embarrassing it was. He didn’t want Yukhei to feel like he was attracted to him or anything.

Even if he was.

They were just friends, the only ones their age, having that was more important to Jungwoo.

Jungwoo securely closed the door to keep the cold out of his tent before he stomped through the snow to the fireplace to have breakfast. He knew someone would get snow-shovelling duty, not just some _one_ but some _people_ , most likely, and he was not eager to be a part of them.

Before he had reached the warmth of the fire, he felt something hit the back of his head. Something cold.

He jerked around, looking for the attacker – was it Jaemin again?

But just as he recognised Yukhei, he got another snowball to the face.

“Hey!” He yelled, forgetting about breakfast and warmth and marching towards Yukhei, who had started cackling hysterically.

Grabbing some snow, Jungwoo attacked back. Yukhei was still laughing, so Jungwoo got two hands of snow into his face and then pushed some down his coat while Yukhei tried to wiggle out of his grip to no avail.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” he was still laughing, but Jungwoo dropped the snow he had collected to the ground instead of shoving it into his jacket. “I just wanted to show you how good my aim is.”

“I know it’s great, I’ve seen you shoot arrows, you dork! Do you have anything to change into? You’ll be cold if you’re wet.”

“Nah, I’m so hot, I need some cooling down anyway,” Yukhei winked and Jungwoo rolled his eyes, patting his back.

Yukhei reached out and Jungwoo saw he wasn’t even wearing gloves. He was about to nag when he realised Yukhei went for his hair, ruffling it get the remaining snow out. He forgot to tell him how important gloves were over that.

These were the weird moments Jungwoo meant. It shouldn’t be anything special, it was _just Yukhei_ , right? But the small show of affection made his heart race like crazy.

“Are you getting breakfast?”

“Well, I was before _someone_ threw snow at me.”

“Great, so we can go together now. Do you want to do snow shovelling?”

“Ew, no.”

“Come on, I need to train these arms of steel, it’s perfect!” Yukhei flexed his arms but nothing showed through the layers of fur and wool he was wearing.

“Let me know once you’ve actually achieved anything with your training,” Jungwoo teased because Yukhei was still very busy growing vertically rather than horizontally even though muscles of steel had been an obsession of his for years now.

Jungwoo was pleasantly surprised that he had thus far kept up, height-wise. He was his Dad’s height now, so he guessed Yukhei might overtake him in the end, but he was very happy with his size.

“Please, come summer you’ll be thirsting after me.”

Jungwoo laughed because it was funny, but once he had finished laughing and they helped themselves to porridge before sitting down, he was no longer laughing because he might actually be. Thirsting after Yukhei, that was.

He stole a glance. Yukhei was extremely handsome. He had these beautiful big eyes, straight nose, and most of the time he’d smile. Jungwoo loved his scent, it was comfortable.

Looks weren’t everything, but Jungwoo felt like they were what had sparked his brain to shift from seeing Yukhei as a best friend to developing more. It was so easy to. Yukhei and he had grown up together and always been close.

For a while now, Jungwoo had understood the stories in which two people fell in love as they grew up.

In the end, he got stuck shovelling because of Yukhei, after all.

“I wanted to finish my blanket but now I’m in the cold instead,” Jungwoo whined. Across the clearing, Renjun and Mark were having a show-off on who was faster and Jungwoo was exhausted just looking at them. He had no idea where everyone was getting the endless competitive energy from.

“Come on, you’ll warm right up and I’ll help you with the blanket,” Yukhei beamed and Jungwoo sighed.

“I’ll be gross and sweaty but unable to strip because it’s cold.”

“With that attitude you won’t,” Yukhei hollered and pushed another shovel of snow towards the treeline. They’d be doing this until sun-down if they’d continue at this speed…

Facing his fate, Jungwoo started to put in some energy as well. He saw his Appa and Doyoung to their left, also having made more progress than he and Yukhei had.

“What blanket are you making?” Yukhei asked.

“Just a woollen one. It’s hecking cold at night. I _should_ be making you a pair of gloves since you don’t seem to own any.”

“Like a courting gift?” Yukhei laughed and Jungwoo swung his shovel his direction.

“As if you’d ever get any courting gifts, dork!”

“I’d be a great catch! Ow!”

“You’re not getting into any omega’s heart by throwing snowballs at them and dooming them for snow shovelling duty!”

“Luckily, I don’t want any omega but just you.”

“ _Excuse me?_ _Just_ me? Wow, I’ll leave you to do this all alone!” Jungwoo whined. 

He wasn’t sure whether to be actually offended because, well, he also didn’t think about Yukhei as _just any alpha_. He didn’t really know any other alphas because they had little contact with their neighbouring packs, but that one time that Jungwoo had seen someone their age, it had felt very different from Yukhei. Someone like that, he’d not known how to behave around, too impressed by their scent and behaviour.

With Yukhei, he was comfortable. He still didn’t think he’d make a bad mate but even though he was attracted to him, he didn’t actually feel like getting mated to him. The thought of formally courting was extremely strange, almost ridiculous.

It was… just Yukhei.

“You wouldn’t, though,” Yukhei pointed out.

“Don’t test your luck.”

A little after the winter solstice, Mark presented.

That was all good and well, but just way too early. Jaemin and his chaos team were only going to turn 13 come spring and summer. Since no one had known Mark’s true age, including he, they assumed he had been born a winter earlier than expected. Physically, he had fit right in with the bunch, but he was probably just naturally small or a late bloomer. After all, Renjun had used to be taller than everyone and was now getting left behind in the height department. Pup development wasn’t one-size-fits-all.

Jungwoo found it really interesting. He saw himself having children in the future, definitely, and he would like to prepare for that.

“How I found out I was pregnant?” His Appa looked surprised. Jungwoo had never brought it up before, but he had been curious. Maybe it was because Mark was in rut and everything felt super weird, that he suddenly felt the need to fill the gaps in his own history?

“Yeah.”

“Do you have questions about how to _get_ pregnant?” His Appa looked concerned.

“Um, no. We talk about that. If an alpha has sex with an omega, it’s always possible, but especially in heat and yeah,” Jungwoo summarised. He knew it was normal, but talking about it with his Appa always felt a little embarrassing. Like he was just a step away from telling him too much, stuff he didn’t tell anyone, ever.

“Yes, exactly.”

“I didn’t ask about that, I just wanted to know because, well, I guess because I don’t really remember how it was when you had Jaemin and not much about Chenle and Jisung either.”

His Appa nodded and resumed stitching down the length of a seam.

“Well, as you know, Jaehyunnie and I had you quite young. Admittedly, it was a bit of a surprise, but like I always tell you, it can always happen and we luckily had no trouble accommodating for it because our pack was well-established and strong enough. I didn’t feel a lot at first. Some people know very quickly because their heat breaks, which it only can if impregnation was successful because it is the whole goal of the heat. Then again, you often don’t keep the pregnancy, so you can never be certain until, well, basically until you have a healthy puppy in your arms.”

Jungwoo swallowed. He had not known that. It sounded rather scary, but the fact that a body could just grow another person in itself was a weird concept. No wonder things could go wrong!

“Some people, like Ten, also have early pregnancy symptoms. Nausea is common. Your mood can swing a lot or you can be very very tired. It’s different for everyone. I also didn’t have that, so I didn’t know until two moons in when I should have had a heat but didn’t.

“At first I thought it was just late. That happens all the time. But then it was _really_ late and I started to wonder. I know I tried to feel but, well, I didn’t really feel anything, my body hadn’t changed in a way that I could have noticed yet. Finally, it was so late that it was clear that there was no other explanation.”

“But what about your scent?” Jungwoo knew that pregnancy influenced an omega’s scent.

“Well, no one could tell because Jaehyunnie and I had just gotten mated, so my scent had changed because of that and no one could have told the difference between that change and the change due to pregnancy.”

Jungwoo’s brain rattled.

His Appa had gotten pregnant right away? He didn’t want to think about it too much because it was his **parents** and it was almost _gross_ to think about, but still.

He had never thought about it because why should he? But he had thought the first time having sex would be during the mating run. He didn’t really want to get knocked up after the _first time_.

It was probably a lot better not to wait until then and have sex outside of a heat first. Just because of this.

Not like there was anyone around that Jungwoo could have it with or wanted to.

But.

Theoretically speaking.

“And then?”

“Well, we started to prepare for you, of course. There’s a lot of things you need, especially clothes, and it’s just… wonderful, to prepare for someone you hope will become part of your life in the future!”

Jungwoo kept thinking about these new revelations.

“I could lend you Jisung if you want to play baby with someone?”

“Shut up, Yukhei, he’s seven and I don’t want _that_. I just said how cute it’d be to make tiny clothes.”

“It’d be less work, for sure. Less weaving, less cutting, less sewing. I guess?”

“Thanks for entertaining me, but I can tell you’re not really into this.”

“No. Sorry. Can we talk about something else?”

“If you bring the pull-up challenge back up I can’t pretend to care anymore.”

“Come on, Jungwoo, I just have to get a few other people excited and then we could make it a huge event.”

“Yay.”

“I did plan for you to join, by the way.”

“Fine,” Jungwoo sighed. It was important to Yukhei, Jungwoo could pull himself up a tree a few times to make him happy.

“Thanks!” Yukhei suddenly leaned over and hugged him – as a thank-you?

Well, Jungwoo hardly ever got hugs from him, so he’d take it even if it was for a pull-up challenge.

In the end, Yukhei won the competition.

Of course, he did, he was at an advantage due to his age.

Still, Renjun, Mark, and Jaemin had fought until the end and it had been very slim between Mark and Yukhei, both of them trembling from exhaustion until Mark finally had to let go of the branch and thus took second place.

Jungwoo told Yukhei so many times he did well and even though it felt like overkill at some point, Yukhei kept looking so proud of himself that Jungwoo entertained him despite that. It was just… kind of cute. Jungwoo felt good making Yukhei feel good.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading, please let me know what you think ^^
> 
> [CC](https://curiouscat.me/Fox_155)


	6. Chapter 6 – The Seventeenth Autumn And Winter

Jungwoo liked autumn. Spring and autumn were his favourite seasons even though he was a summer puppy. He preferred milder weather and the change they brought.

Over the summer, Yukhei had made his own tent because Mark and he kept getting into territorial fights that neither of them wanted to wage and they had decided splitting up would be the best for them.

The clearing had grown. They had cut down trees that had used to be the border when Jungwoo had been little to make more room and the number of tents kept growing. As the seasons changed, Jungwoo thought about how things had changed over his life.

“Stop it! Ow, ow, ow!” He looked up from where he had been soaping clothes and saw Chenle crying, holding his eyes, while Jisung tried to undo his prank of smearing soap into his friend’s eye. Too late, Johnny had already noticed and marched over from where he had been rinsing his own batch of clothes.

Jungwoo watched as Johnny washed Chenle’s eye out and gently scolded Jisung for pranking his friend too roughly. Johnny was strict, too, but he wasn’t as terrifying in his ways as Ten.

Johnny was the leader of their pack, their backbone and support, while Ten, his mate, was the defence and attack. They had proven themselves long before Jungwoo had ever been born and shown over and over that they were fit to lead them.

No wonder Yukhei had turned out a good person, raised by two people like that.

Well.

He had his quirks.

“Why are the puppies making a fuss?”

Jungwoo looked up to see the person he had just been thinking about wade back into the stream, carrying even more clothes. It felt like they’d never finish, but that was how laundry duty always was and in the end, everything got done after all.

“Jisung put soap in Chenle’s eye.”

“Oh, yikes.”

Jungwoo exchanged his soaped shirt with a dirty one from Yukhei. They always split their work because Yukhei genuinely enjoyed slapping the dirty clothes onto the rocks to get rid of stains. It worked his muscles, so he said. Always the same with him and his obsession with his physique, wasn’t it? Jungwoo internally shook his head as Yukhei got to it.

Though he had to admit, his hard work paid off. He had noticed in spring when it had started to become warm enough to shed the thick layers and in summer, he had no longer been able to ignore it.

He looked good.

Attractive.

A fact that became harder and harder to ignore, too.

Jungwoo still had a lot to do, so there wasn’t much time to stare at Yukhei, but he kept doing it in between as a little reward for working hard.

One time, he got caught and Yukhei’s smirk didn’t sit right with him at all, but they both didn’t say anything. They never did, but there was usually a silent exchange. Yukhei would flex even more when he knew with certainty that he had Jungwoo’s attention.

“Did you feast your eyes?”

So today was the first time that was different. Yukhei had never asked this before and Jungwoo looked around, but they were alone, Johnny having herded Chenle and Jisung away to leave hanging up the washed clothes to them.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Jungwoo returned, not giving Yukhei even a glance.

“Mm,” Jungwoo noticed that Yukhei stepped even closer, so closer he was in his personal space, making him hyper-aware of his presence. “I think you do, though.”

“Enlighten me if you’re so all-knowing.” Jungwoo’s heart was beating quickly now. He was a little curious to see how daring Yukhei would be, more curious than he was nervous.

“I was obviously talking about _me_!”

It was a bit anti-climatic that Yukhei wouldn’t list all his strengths how he liked to do, but when Jungwoo looked at him and found his face so close, he realised he wasn’t the only one who was nervous.

Yukhei had never brought it up before, he had probably gathered his courage to do so now.

“Feast? Mm, maybe a snack.”

“Please,” Yukhei snorted, but his face turned pink and Jungwoo was intrigued that he was the reason for this reaction.

“I’ll take it for now. Just watch out because I’m not done growing,” Yukhei whispered and suddenly stepped away, leaving Jungwoo alone with the three shirts he still had to hang up.

That had been a promise, hadn’t it?

“Yukhei!”

The other stopped in his tracks and turned.

“You know what a feast needs? Cuddling!”

“Cuddling?”

“Yeah. Please train it a lot, I’ll be looking forward to it!”

Jungwoo wasn’t even sure what he was saying and why he was even saying anything, but it was out now and he wouldn’t take it back.

It had been forever since he had cuddled with Yukhei and, well, he would like to know what it’d be like now.

Because he was certain it’d be nothing like cuddling had used to be as kids.

Unlike autumn, Jungwoo disliked winter.

It was a hard season to get through. It was constantly cold and the food would be pickled to keep it fresh, but tasted, well, pickled. It didn’t even compare to a fresh vegetable dish.

Mark had hit a massive growth spurt over the summer, leaving the rascals in the dust, and Jungwoo watched in peace how Donghyuck and Jaemin fought about that.

It was like a small fairy tale they were all watching. Donghyuck had found Mark when he had been six and immediately claimed he smelt of ginger even though no unpresented puppy could scent that and another unpresented puppy didn’t even have their personal scent yet, to begin with.

Still, Donghyuck had insisted and when Mark had become an alpha last winter, everyone older had suddenly smelt it as well: ginger. Mark smelt of ginger, very strongly even.

Jungwoo did believe the stories that this meant they were supposed to be together, not only because he thought it was cute, but also because he didn’t have any other explanation.

It must be nice to have such certainty.

Jungwoo looked over to where Yukhei was chopping wood in only a thin shirt, his furs discarded.

He wasn’t wearing gloves. Yet again.

Knitting them was annoying because it was a lot of details to pay attention to, but Jungwoo was a good knitter. Better than Yukhei, for sure. If Yukhei hadn’t managed to sew himself nice gloves he enjoyed, maybe this could be the solution?

Jungwoo nibbled on his lower lip.

“His favourite colour?” Ten raised an eyebrow and Jungwoo felt like maybe he shouldn’t have asked.

“We haven’t talked about that in forever. It used to be pink, but it’s a childish colour, so I wasn’t sure,” Jungwoo explained, hoping that Ten didn’t get the wrong idea. Maybe he should have asked Johnny?

He felt his Appa’s eyes on him, observing like a hawk. He knew what implications a gift could have, especially at their age – but that wasn’t at all what he wanted to do. He hadn’t thought it’d be this obvious to their parent, but that had been wrong. Now he had brought himself into this situation.

“I haven’t seen him wear anything pink in recent seasons, you’re right. He likes black a lot, but it’s a dark colour, so I’m not sure if you’re looking for that.” Jungwoo didn’t like black, but he knew Yukhei did. It was difficult to dye and washed out almost immediately – not something he had in mind for a gift. “He also likes green. You could try something more unique?”

Jungwoo guessed there was no point trying to deny. Their pack was too small to keep secrets anyway.

“Thanks. I just noticed he never wears gloves.”

Ten hummed, but he didn’t add anything. Jungwoo felt like he was still thinking the wrong thing, but he didn’t know how to defend himself without making it even more awkward or actually having him think it was meant for courting when it was not. Maybe Ten didn’t even think that, just his Appa?

Jungwoo threw his Appa a small glare, but he wasn’t even looking anymore.

He felt foolish, but he had gotten what he had come for.

Tea worked well for dying green if you knew how to prepare the leaves. Jungwoo did know and he somehow managed to finish the task without anyone noticing or asking questions.

After dyeing, he had to spin the thread and since winter left you with relatively little to do, he finished within two days.

Since it was supposed to be a secret, he did it in his tent, wrapped up in blankets to keep warm.

It was all in all a ridiculous effort for a questionable pay-off and he considered just quitting twice, but didn’t. He hoped Yukhei would really like these and he had never made something from start to finish because he was still a puppy in their pack. It was fun and it felt even more exciting to think that Yukhei would wear something he had put so much work into.

If he didn’t appreciate them enough, Jungwoo would just take them back. They would be a bit big because of the size, but it’d be fine.

Sizing was actually more challenging than he had thought it would be, but he finally finished a pair that looked about right and was even. Jungwoo liked the colour so much, he felt almost envious that Yukhei would get these, but giving something he was proud of was the point.

It was still cold and would remain for a while, so Yukhei should be getting plenty of use out of them this winter and the next and the next – if they’d last that long. That was the downside of knitting, it wasn’t as sturdy as leather.

Despite it just being a gift and Jungwoo having a back-up plan, he was ridiculously nervous about giving the gloves to Yukhei.

So much so, he postponed it twice, once carrying them in his pocket all day while watching Yukhei’s hands turn red and purple from the cold.

“Yukhei! Are you still up?”

It was late and once the sun had set, the temperatures had dropped. Jungwoo had been rolled into blankets in his tent, but he had been annoyed with himself to the point that he had gotten back up, dressed, and walked to Yukhei’s tent through the snow.

“Jungwoo? Is everything okay?”

“Yeah, no worries.”

It took a second, then, Yukhei poked his head out the door.

“Uh. Come in?”

Jungwoo hesitated. He had never been to Yukhei’s tent. There just hadn’t been any reason. Well, it wasn’t like this was forbidden, right? It just felt so weird, but many things did. It was this attraction he never spoke about being in the way.

Ignoring the nerves, Jungwoo crawled after Yukhei. Compared to his own tent, this was even smaller, just two candles illuminating it and nothing but a bed and a chest for clothing inside.

Jungwoo sat down on the floor close to the door.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Yukhei repeated. He was fumbling with his hands, speaking of his own nerves and Jungwoo was once again glad to know he wasn’t the only one affected.

“I am. I have something for you.”

Jungwoo pulled the gloves out of his coat’s pocket. He had wrapped a band around them and tied it into a bow.

Yukhei didn’t react for a couple of seconds. He just stared at the gloves with big eyes as if they were a venomous snake.

It was a bit offensive.

“Take them or leave them, in which case I’d take them.”

“No! I…” Yukhei reached out and took them, stroking over the wool carefully.

Jungwoo guessed he could leave now, but Yukhei proceeded to unwrap the band and put one of them on, trying the size, and he just stayed.

“Wow. These are perfect!” His voice was full of genuine wonder and Jungwoo’s stomach fluttered. It was the reaction he had hoped for and more.

“Will you wear them?”

“We… yeah! You made me these because I never put on gloves?”

“Duh. You need to protect your hands and these are softer than leather gloves.”

Yukhei turned his hands back and forth, admiring them and Jungwoo felt weirder and weirder. He was proud, sure, happy, but also a bit embarrassed?

“Thank you,” Yukhei suddenly added, breaking the awkward silence and finally putting his hand down to stare right at Jungwoo.

“Sure. You’re welcome.”

“But like… are these a courting gift, or what?”

“Why would I give you a courting gift?”

“Because you find me irresistibly hot, funny, and charming?” Yukhei returned and suddenly scooted closer.

Jungwoo considered moving away, but he didn’t. He enjoyed how his skin prickled and heart raced, even though he wasn’t sure why he was feeling that way.

Yukhei was just as nervous and that was comforting.

“Don’t flatter yourself. I asked for cuddling and instead I’ve been sitting all alone all winter, freezing my butt off. Nothing charming in that.”

Suddenly, Jungwoo was wrapped into a hug and he held still, waiting for what would happen. Yukhei pulled him a little closer until they were awkwardly touching chest to chest.

“Sorry, this is uncomfortable, Yukhei,” Jungwoo said, his words muffled by the jacket he was currently pressed against.

“What else am I supposed to do?”

“My moon, let me show you.”

Yukhei squeaked, but he let himself be manhandled until no body part was weirdly twisted anymore and it was genuinely comfortable.

Ignoring that Jungwoo could _feel_ Yukhei’s heart thundering and Yukhei probably could feel his as well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading, pls let me know how you liked it ~
> 
> [CC](https://curiouscat.me/Fox_155)


End file.
